Lead vs. jacketed bullets?

I have purchased a Ruger .45 Blackhawk and would like to reload. With very little experience reloading pistol cartridges, my question is: disregarding price and using published load parameters, is there any difference using lead or jacketed bullets?

Not much. You can push a jacked bullet to faster speeds without danger of leading the barrel. Some lead bullets are hard enough to push fast too. What are your goals with reloading your own ammo? Some reload to save money, some reload to hunt, some just for target practice. Most of us shoot lead no faster than 1,000 feet per second, and some of us won't go past 850 feet per second.

I am looking to reload primarily to save money, however, I do enjoy reloading. What I don't know is, for occasional weekend shooting, is one (lead or jacketed) better or worse for the barrel (assuming a routine brush and patch cleaning after each outing)?
With the same bullet design (round nose-flat point) does it matter for the life of the barrel?
Using published load parameters, is there a difference (the art of reloading) in loading one (lead or jacketed) over the other?
Thanks for the help.

850 fps for me........generally.
That being said, on store bought lead projectiles.
If you cast your own you can 'harden' the mix to whatever you wish, basically.
More tin etc. for bumpin up the speed.....although my favorite all-around 'mix'
is simply lead from regular car/truck batteries.
Are you gonna cap them is also criteria. Some have told me caps don't matter,
but I think, to a degree, as they pass thru after the lead, they help keep some of
the lead from sticking in the barrel. A self cleaner, if you will.
Car battery lead I have no problem @ 1000fps - with a cap, even without.
Caps are a pain to mess with.

And yes, casting your own is THE BEST way to reload for less. I use wheel weight (WW) alloy purchased from local tire shops to make my boolits. I find WW alloy to be sufficient for shooting in handguns up to 1500 fps and rifles up to 2000 fps (with gaschecks on the latter of course) and assuming the bullets are sized properly for the bore and lubed with a quality bullet lube (I make my own boolit lube as well).

It costs me around 7 bucks to put together a box (100 rounds) of .44 magnums loaded with my own 240 gr RN castings, and they are more accurate than anything factory I have tried...

I am looking to reload primarily to save money, however, I do enjoy reloading. What I don't know is, for occasional weekend shooting, is one (lead or jacketed) better or worse for the barrel (assuming a routine brush and patch cleaning after each outing)?
With the same bullet design (round nose-flat point) does it matter for the life of the barrel?
Using published load parameters, is there a difference (the art of reloading) in loading one (lead or jacketed) over the other?
Thanks for the help.

Click to expand...

Lead is by far less stressful on the bore of a firearm. Over time jacketed bullets will smooth out the rifling grooves in a bore and deteriorate accuracy (it takes a few thousand rounds) Lead, even hardcast, is nowhere near as hard as a bullet jacket. Thus barrels fed a steady dies of lead ammo will last just about forever. How many old .22s do you find with fantastic bores??? Thats because .22 ammo is soft lead or plated lead, not jacketed...

Lead is by far less stressful on the bore of a firearm. Over time jacketed bullets will smooth out the rifling grooves in a bore and deteriorate accuracy (it takes a few thousand rounds) Lead, even hardcast, is nowhere near as hard as a bullet jacket. Thus barrels fed a steady dies of lead ammo will last just about forever. How many old .22s do you find with fantastic bores??? Thats because .22 ammo is soft lead or plated lead, not jacketed...

JLA said it all, he is right on. I drive bullets poured from linotype and gas checked up to 2,200 FPS with out a problem. These loads fired mostly in 30-30 rifles. I have taken Elk, Deer, and Antelope with cast bullets. These were all taken with cast lead in a 4" S&W Mdl. 29. The WW metal works for most plinking and hunting. And besides casting is also a fun hobby.

I have been shooting Oregon trail LRN 230 exclusively in my colt 1911 and my fnp tactical. Also a buddies p 220. It is the least expensive option for sure. Shoots very well. And safer than fmj's for deflection off rocks or sign posts. However, since my fnp exploded, I've been asking around to see if lead is the right choice. Doug and old reloading guru in my area said he would never ever pull his lever with lead in the chamber. This came as a great disappointment to me. But as I thought about the cleaning process on my guns after shooting I understood. I have to clean my barrels for no less than an hour after The lead build up in the first inch of the lands is almost filled to the rifleing. I use sweets, kroil, Otis bore cleaner a tiny pick, twelve large patches and a 50 cal brush. I almost never have the patients to get the barrels looking factory. Plenty clean, but I can still see small signs of build up.

So for the clenliness factor I will be switching to Montana gold. 20 $ more per 500 box. It may be worth the saved cleaning time.